the linked migration bracelet.

Published: October 28, 2014

i hear them first: feathers smacking air, a honk-call to their friends, a squeaky-creaky armpit joint working those wings like mad. i look up. there’s my squad, and right on time. they whiz past my head, glide in, and aim downward (much less graceful than the average, smaller bird, but that’s fine with me because these guys are big!). the flapping starts to get a sort of organized hectic, and then (my favorite part) a grand skidding splash into the pit-stop pond that is my front yard. i get to watch this every season and every season it feels like i’m witnessing it for the first time.

these winged creatures hang out for a spell, picking up other geese as the day progresses and gearing up for the next leg of their journey. i watch them for a while. i imagine they’re trading stories, talking about routes to take, where to stop for the best snacks, weather predictions, new battle wounds, holiday plans, you know, normal stuff. they’re funny. they remind me of my grandfather. not just because he fed them every year (perhaps with a knowing grin while my grandmother scowled at their “deliveries” on her beautifully manicured grounds and then chided him for encouraging them). of course this does come to mind, but there’s also the part about the bird itself. a goose isn’t perfect like a swan, or wise-looking like an owl, it’s not synonymous with the ocean like a seagull, or sweet and spry like a bluebird. they are hearty and strong but certainly not refined. with a subtle, comedic flair, they do like to raise a raucous. they are movers. they are formation and order. they are the changing of seasons.

i might be a little goofy (as my grandfather loved to put it) for watching them so earnestly. but that’s ok. because being goofy can be a good thing. and besides, maybe these geese are actually just talking to each other about the tall, gangly girl they see every year, standing as still as a stone, never making a peep, and watching so intensely they thought lasers were going to shoot out of her eyes. either way, i’d say it’s nice to acknowledge the simple signals of change.

5 domed silver circles are joined by two sets of links allowing the metal to organically drape over your wrist, slightly shifting as your day progresses. from two to four to six and back again, these birds are on the move and so are you.